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Saturday, February 4, 2012

Unbreakable!

The Santa Barbara Trail Runners and the Santa Barbara Athletic Association set up a screening of the film Unbreakable this week. If you haven’t heard about Unbreakable it is a documentary just recently released about the Western States 100 and the four main competitors in the 2010 race that ran themselves into the ground to claim first place. I’ve been eager to see it since I heard about it in December.

One hundred mile races fascinate me and capture my imagination. I’ve always dreamed of running one. I guess you could say it’s on my bucket list, but of course, I need to survive a marathon first! I hate going to movies alone, so I almost didn’t go. All my none running friends had no interest in sitting through a running documentary and most of my running friends were busy, including Daddio. Which reminds me, I’d like to give a shout out to my awesome parents, it’s their 37th wedding anniversary!

At the last minute, I decided to ask my coworker Gina to see if she was going and she was! She invited me to tag along with her, her husband and friends. I gladly accepted the invite and I’m sure glad I did. The movie was inspiring and kept me on the edge of my seat. I had purposely avoided reading anything about the Western States 100 2010 race, so that I wouldn’t know who won. I loved seeing how they handled the distance, how they reacted to up hills and down hills, how they coordinated their aid station stops and how they handled the heat. It was a lot of fun to see. I have so much to learn about ultrarunning!

I do have to say that the highlight of the night was when Anton Krupicka walked into the theater. There were rumors that he was flying in for the screening, but his original flight was canceled, so I really wasn’t expecting him to show. I have to admit I got a little fan girly seeing him in person. Our screening had a Q&A session with half a dozen accomplished trail runners, including Anton and the creator of the file JB Benna. It was an awesome night!

If you are even considering seeing it or buying it, I recommend that you do. It is totally worth it.